American perception of atheists is one step above child molesters?

Concerning various views on atheists, research in the American Sociological Review finds that among several groups listed, atheists are the group that Americans relate least to in terms of their vision of American society and are the group most likely to be mentioned as one that Americans would not want to have marry into their family.
[2] Dr. Sam Harris is a founder of the New Atheism movement. Sam Harris is quite aware of the stigma surrounding atheism and has even advocated that atheists no longer call themselves atheists.[3] In fact, Dr. Harris has said concerning the label of atheist, "It's right next to child molester as a designation."[4]

When the "We are Atheism" website launched 11 out of 15 atheists featured had the Nerd/Skimpy beard/Wear black/Spiked or shaggy hair Syndrome! The skimpy beard is particularly present. I had no idea that Scooby-Doo and Shaggy were atheists! See also: Atheism and social outcasts

Question: Why do so many atheist men have skimpy beards and/or shaggy/spiky hair? Were Scooby-Doo and Shaggy atheists? They were certainly cowardly enough to be atheists!

We Are Atheism scandal

The group raised money from atheists after tragic events and natural disasters, supposedly to help victims and their families, but the money didn’t always make it there. In some cases, it was given to people completely unaffected by the tragedies, unbeknownst to the donors at the time. The co-founders said publicly they weren’t taking a salary, even though they were. They said donations to the group were tax-deductible, even when they weren’t....

Several former board members of We Are Atheism later spoke up about why they resigned; their reasons included a lack of financial transparency in the organization.

Since all of that went down, Lee Moore took over as President of We Are Atheism and Amanda Brown stepped down from the board (she no longer has a formal connection with the group).

Moore vowed to get an independent tax firm to look over the group’s finances and pledged to make things right...

So what happened with that independent tax firm?...

Simply put: They couldn’t complete the audit. They asked Brown for access to certain accounts involving We Are Atheism’s money and they didn’t receive it.[7]

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Why does atheism have a public relations problem?

Although this is not exhaustive list, here are some other factors to consider when solving the mystery of why atheism has a public relations problem:

In 2011, the American Spectator declared concerning research published in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research:

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The report estimates about 80,000 new Christians every day, 79,000 new Muslims every day, and 300 fewer atheists every day. These atheists are presumably disproportionately represented in the West, while religion is thriving in the Global South, where charismatic Christianity is exploding."[9]